By Ruth Ann Ruiz
The Post Newspaper Features Editor
Children from Galveston County celebrated their completion of Freedom School on Thursday evening. The event opened with all the children and staff on the stage at Ball High School demonstrating for their family and friends the Harambee.
They had spent six weeks learning the words and moves to the Harambee and as they sang, it felt like the whole world was singing with them. The Harambee means all pull together in Swahili and is a series of motivational songs, cheers and chants.
Freedom School is part of The Children’s Defense Fund, and this was the 18th year for Galveston County children to spend their summer building their reading skills and other life skills in a motivational environment.
Sue Johnson brought the school to Galveston, and she shared with us about the program the students experienced this summer.
“With the continued support of community partners and generous donors who understand the need to reduce summer learning loss, we hope that this year as in previous years (and despite interruptions caused by hurricane Beryl) that we not only reduce summer learning loss, but that we continue to see gains in our scholars’ academic reading level.
Students explored and engaged in meaningful activities such as: Girl Scouting, dance with the House of Performing Arts and Winner’s circle., Music by Fanfare Music Academy, Eco Art and kayaking by Artist Boat, Art in Activism supported by Galveston Art Center, Black History and financial literacy by Coastal Community Federal Credit Union and Amoco Federal Credit Union.
Other partners include the Galveston Independent School District, The Galveston Children’s Museum, the Boys Girls Club of Greater Houston and Busy Bee Cab. Fit to Be Equipped helped to expand the scholars understanding of etiquette, proper dress, behavior, and attitude.
Well trained and prepared, Servant Leader Interns delivered the engaging curriculum and planned and organized a fantastic finale from which our scholars emerged, proud, confident, and with a clear understanding that they can make a difference in themselves, their families, their community, their nation, and their world with hope education and action.
Through the weekly Family Night Parents workshops and their Freedom School scholars, parents learned more about conflict resolution, health and mental health resources. They also learned the importance of parent engagement, advocating for their children and how to plan and organize social action projects.
Funders include the Moody Foundation, the Harris and Eliza, Kempner Fund, the Permanent Endowment Fund, the Cynthia and George Mitchell Family Foundation and the Ippolito Charitable Foundation,” said Sue Johnson.
The children were engaged in reading books throughout the six weeks as part of the Freedom School one estimate is that some children read as many as 45 books over the six-week period.
While this year’s program is finished, next summer Sue Johnson has said there will be another year for children in Galveston County to attend Freedom School. If you would like more information about the program, you can find it at:
